Rory McIlroy ready to rewrite British Open record book

Jul. 19, 2014
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Rory McIlroy watches his tee shot at the 4th during his third round at The 143rd Open Championship at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. McIlroy has a six-shot lead heading into Sunday's final round. / Ian Rutherford USA TODAY Sports

by Steve DiMeglio, USA TODAY Sports

by Steve DiMeglio, USA TODAY Sports

Then Rory McIlroy started throwing haymakers at Royal Liverpool Golf Club and his nearest competitors in Saturday's third round of the 143rd playing of the British Open.

On a historic day where two tees were used to begin the round for the first time in the history of the event because of looming storms that were supposed to be of Biblical proportions, McIlroy provided lasting memories with two eagles in his final three holes.

That polished off a conquering 4-under-par 68 to move six shots clear of his nearest competitor.

Combined with his 66s in the first two rounds, McIlroy is at 16-under 200 and at the ready to rewrite the record books.

Greg Norman, in 1993, set the record for lowest total of 267. Tiger Woods, in 2000, set the record for lowest score in relation to par at 19-under.

Holding his nerve early on, relying on an inner peace throughout the round and calling on firepower that is the envy of most, McIlroy moved within 18 holes of winning the third leg of a career Grand Slam before he turns 26.

His six-shot lead on Rickie Fowler is the largest 54-hole lead in this championship since Woods led by six en route to winning in 2000.

"I'm comfortable leading the tournament," said McIlroy, who has relied on a couple unknown trigger words all week to get his mind ready for each shot. "This is the third night in a row that I'll sleep on the lead. It helps that I've been in this position before and I've been able to convert and I've been able to get the job done. I'm comfortable with how I'm hitting it. Really comfortable on the greens. I just need to go out there tomorrow and play one more solid round and hopefully that's enough."

This is the Rory we all know â?? the one who went on a rampage and blew away the field at Congressional Country Club to win the 2011 U.S. Open and then buried his colleagues in the same manner at Kiawah Island to win the 2012 PGA Championship, winning both majors by eight shots.

When McIlroy is on, when he's twirling clubs immediately after hitting his shot perfectly, the rest of the field has no chance. He's averaging more than 350 yards with his driver in his hand. He's firing at flagsticks. His putting is superb. He has the same killer instinct Woods has, wanting a seven-shot lead instead of six, an eight-shot lead instead of seven.

Mentally McIlroy's as golf sharp as he's been in a long time. And his lucky is running good, too. He got the best of the draw in the first two rounds as he played in the calmest conditions. And with of the unprecedented move by the R&A to go off in threesomes of both the first and 10th tees, McIlroy didn't play in pouring rain, which arrived in Hoylake about 45 minutes after he finished.

"If I'm able to go out and get off to a good start, maybe I can put a little bit of pressure on him, because he's definitely in control of the golf tournament right now," Fowler said.

While McIlroy made three birdies and eagles from 20 feet on 16 and 10 feet on 18 when he had a 4-iron on 16 and a 5-iron on 18 in his hands for his second shots, it was par saves on the second, seventh, eighth and 13th holes which proved just as important.

And when Fowler caught him at the top of the leaderboard on the 12th hole, lesser men would have buckled at the disappearance of the 4-shot lead at the start of the day.

Instead, McIlroy remained calm and made a birdie at 14 and then his two eagles.

"I never panicked," McIlroy said. "I didn't feel uncomfortable. I knew that I had some holes coming up that I could take advantage of and make some birdies on the way in.

" â?¦ I feel like today my patience was rewarded. I didn't get off to the best of starts again, and had a few chances around the turn to maybe make birdies, and I wasn't able to do that and then dropped a shot. But then I made a big par save on 13. And then to make that birdie putt on 14 was a bonus. And then obviously the finish speaks for itself."

Now all McIlroy has to worry about is blowing a huge lead. Then again, McIlroy hasn't looked the least bit worried all week.

"Whenever you have such a big lead, you really can't think about anyone else but yourself. You have to think about how you're going to control your emotions," he said. "How you're going to control whatever thoughts you have, trying to stay completely in the present and focus on what you need to do."